In the last few years New Orleans has seen an explosion in the variety of king cakes one can buy. From Dong Phuong’s Vietnamese style of the desert, to Norma’s Sweets Bakery’s Cuban approach with a guava filling, king cakes are increasingly taking on new cultural identities. Over the weekend, Louisiana Considered’s Alana Schreiber learned about a new kind of king cake with a traditional Jewish spin.
This story was originally published on Jan. 27, 2023. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity
Alana Schreiber: Serena Deutch grew up surrounded by the smells of fresh baked Challah in her south Florida home – her mother made the traditional Jewish eggy bread almost weekly for Shabbat. And by the time she moved to New Orleans, she started experimenting with challah recipes of her own.
Serena Deutch: I made a berry chantilly cake challah, I made one with praline. And then when it was king cake season I learned that challah dough is pretty similar to the brioche dough that king cakes are made with. So I basically created a filing and created an icing and then it turned into a king cake.
AS: Serena’s been making Challah king cakes for three years now. After her creations became popular over instagram she was asked to lead a workshop to kids at the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience. Today, she’s preparing the dough.
SD: It’s a pretty time intensive process. I make the dough, which is my regular challah bread dough and let it rise. And then instead of doing my normal three strand braid, which is what I would do for a challah, I take those three strands, roll out the dough and fill it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. And then twist that into each strand and braid it together. But I twist it into a round braid so it still looks like a king cake.
AS: For Serena, challah king cakes isn’t just a passion project. It’s also a way of celebrating two of her cultural ties.
SD: The Jewish community has a strong history in New Orleans even if that’s not the common perception of the community or of Mardi Gras. I think having a form of representation, even if it’s just a creative thing I’ve made up, I think it feels like another expression of my form of Judaism and the Jewish community here and a way to bring together two different cultures.
AS: And after a day spent rolling, filling, braiding and baking 36 mini challahs, Serena arrives at the museum the following day.
The event begins with story time, as Matt Haines reads his new children’s book, The Little Book of King Cake.
After the story is complete, Serena passes out the challah. And without any hesitation, the kids start to decorate.
Meyer: I made a king cake with a cinnamon challah and I covered it with icing and put purple and green sprinkles and yellow sprinkles.
AS: That’s 7 year old Meyer. While he says he has made both challah and king cake before, he’s never made challah king cake. He decorates his dessert alongside his four year old brother Ari.
Ari: It’s kind of messy but when we added icing and sprinkles to be like a crown.
That’s right, the sprinkles on Ari’s cake do look a bit like a king’s crown. Because when it comes to sprinkles these kids aren’t holding back. Like 6-year-old Ellie
Ellie: That there’s every color of sprinkles that you could ever wish you. It has a side with yellow and a side with purple and a side with green.
The same goes for 4 year old Mila.
Mila: I put sprinkles on top of the icing before I spread it, and I spread it with the sprinkles to make it delicious.
AS: While the kids walked away with frosting filled mouths, half-eaten cakes, and a new book from Matt Haines, the parents left that day with something more. Here’s dads Jeff Schwartz and Lee Rubin
Jeff Schwartz: I think these events are important because Nola is a gumbo pot and it’s all about celebrating old traditions and making new ones. New Orleans has a really amazing, vibrant Jewish community and obviously Mardi Gras is the biggest holiday, so why not combine them?
Lee Rubin: Also a braided challah and a braided king cake seem to be long lost cousins. So why turn a challah into a king cake?
AS: So a challah and king cake aren’t even that different to begin with. Neither is being a New Orleanian and being Jewish. And that’s what this event is all about. Not finding a way to merge two identities, but celebrating the cultural overlap that already exists.
In New Orleans, I’m Alana Schreiber.
